Shared Heritage in Museums in South Africa: Opportunities for Collaboration
In the summer of 2015, a team of Dutch museum professionals embarked on an exploratory visit to South Africa. This publication reports on that visit.
Study visit to museum collections and house museums in South Africa
The aim of the study visit was to bring together South African and Dutch experts for the purpose of exchanging expertise and experience with regard to museum collections and house museums. In addition, an inventory was drafted of the collections and interiors (particularly of shared heritage), their state of maintenance, and the support requirements of South African experts as regards collection curation. During the course of the exploratory visit, institutions in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town which curate collections were visited, and the Dutch embassy set up a meeting of experts. Among other things, this information exchange revealed a deeply felt need to tell the story of colonialism, a narrative which at present is not always supported by the collections and objects curated by South African institutions. The exploratory visit took place in the context of the Cultural Heritage Agency’s Shared Cultural Heritage programme.
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Text: H.G. Schuit, D. Bull, M. Holtrop
Cultural Heritage Agency, 2017